Two Buffalo police officers were suspended without pay last night after a video showed them shoving a 75-year-old protester, who suffered a head injury. Via The New York Times:
The video taken by WBFO, a local radio station, shows the man approaching a group of officers during a protest stemming from the death of George Floyd. After he stops in front of them to talk, an officer yells, “push him back” three times; one officer pushes his arm into the man’s chest, while another extends his baton toward him with both hands.
The man is seen flailing backward, landing just out of range of the camera, with blood immediately leaking from his right ear. The video shows an officer leaning down to examine him, but another officer then pulls the first officer away. Several other officers are seen walking by the man, motionless on the ground, without checking on him.
Mayor Byron Brown said on Thursday night that the man was in serious condition.
Two officers have been suspended without pay. The police department originally claimed the protester "tripped and fell":
A BPD spokesperson released this update. Five people were arrested and another person was injured during a protest in Niagara Square tonight. @WKBW pic.twitter.com/UZoDsSRs4J
— Jeff Russo (@JeffRussoWKBW) June 5, 2020
Never forget that if we didn’t have cell phone video, the Buffalo police would have likely have gotten away saying the man tripped.
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) June 5, 2020
the buffalo cop who pushed the elderly man over sending him to the hospital was recorded kneeling for his photo op beforehand. THIS is why you don’t trust the cop propaganda pic.twitter.com/VfhfsBxYue
— sheena (@sheenar1382) June 5, 2020
I’m haunted by that Buffalo video of an older gentleman shoved down, left prostrate+bleeding. I’m not haunted by the attack, but by the dozen officers emphatically walking over him, even stopping a peer from helping. We’ll do evil as a face in a crowd we would never do alone.
— Harold Pollack (@haroldpollack) June 5, 2020
